MBTA Dashboard - Frontend Implementation

Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

MBTA Dashboard - Frontend Implementation#

What Was Established#

A portrait-mode (1080x1920) transit dashboard displaying real-time MBTA departures, commuter rail, weather, news, and a static transit map. Hosted on PLT-MBTADisplay (192.168.168.42), served via Nginx with a Node/Express proxy that handles all external API calls server-side. Target display is a 1080p vertical screen driven by Anthias on a Raspberry Pi 3B+.

Design Evolution#

The dashboard went through several major design iterations:

Initial: Line-based cards with MBTA colors, horizontal layout for 1080p TV
Minimalist redesign: White background, grey dividers, MBTA colors only on small abbreviated line pills (RL, OL, BL, GL-B/C/D/E), smaller station-only headers with walk time
Station-based cards: Cards grouped by station (South Station, State Street, Park Street) rather than by line, with all routes listed per station
Final portrait layout: 2-column CSS Grid, flex column containers, flat time-sorted departure list with line pills, full-width static map image at bottom

Layout (1080x1920 Portrait)#

2-column, 3-row card grid above a full-width static map image
Cards flex with content height (no preset card height)
CSS Grid with grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr

Key Features#

CSS Ticker/Marquee#

Header text that overflows its container scrolls seamlessly in a ticker
Uses CSS animation with transform: translateX() — no JavaScript
Animation speed set slow for readability

Station-Based Grouping#

Cards grouped by physical station: South Station, State Street, Park Street
Each station card shows all lines serving that station
Departures sorted by time, each with abbreviated line pill (RL, OL, BL, GL-B, etc.)
Filtered to show departures within 10 minutes walking distance

Server-Side Proxy Architecture#

All API calls proxied through Node/Express on localhost:3000
Client fetches single /api/data endpoint — no direct browser-to-MBTA calls
API keys stored in environment variables, never exposed to browser
Server-side caching with TTL to reduce upstream API calls

News Ticker#

Pulls from multiple RSS feeds (MassLive Boston, State House News)
Displays first 3 items from each feed as <title> - <description>
Modular RSS feed configuration for easy addition of new sources

Static Map#

Originally Leaflet.js with OpenStreetMap and hardcoded markers
Replaced with static image for performance on Raspberry Pi
Generated via Snazzy Maps + PowerPoint, served as local webp file
Full-width, placed below the card grid

Performance & Optimization#

Memory Constraints (Raspberry Pi 3B+)#

Total system memory: 788MB
Dockerized Anthias viewer consumes significant resources
Strategies employed:
- Server-side proxy: Eliminates duplicate API calls from browser
- Lazy loading: Defer non-critical rendering
- DOM optimization: Remove unused elements, minimize reflows
- Image optimization: Convert to WebP, use static image over dynamic map
- Cache management: Server-side cache with periodic clearing
- Swap avoidance: Swap degrades SD card — keep memory footprint below physical RAM

Font Standardization#

Default to Arial for cross-platform consistency
Helvetica Neue as preferred fallback
Qt WebEngine (Anthias) renders fonts differently than desktop Chrome

Current Configuration#

Host: PLT-MBTADisplay (192.168.168.42)
Web root: /var/www/MBTADisplay/public
Proxy: /opt/mbta-proxy/server.js (Node/Express, port 3000)
Process manager: pm2 with systemd service (pm2-administrator)
Deployment: Git push → GitHub → manual pull on server
Access URLs: http://transit.intra.plgt.com (internal), https://mbtadash.nbkelley.com (Cloudflare)

Historical Notes#

Conversation dates: 2026-03-12 to 2026-04-12.
Collaborative workflow: Claude AI (creative/prompt engineering) → Claude Code (implementation).
Blue Bikes section was added, then fully removed when GBFS feed deprecated.
Ferry panel configuration evolved significantly — seasonal routes removed seasonally.
Several Claude Code UI hallucinations corrected by user during Bambu Studio discussion.

Sources#

ingested/chats/159-Create MBTA Train Dashboard with API.md
Claude Code conversation: “MBTADashboard - Prompt Maker” (chat 24)

MBTA Dashboard - Kiosk Mode

Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

MBTA Dashboard - Kiosk Mode#

What Was Established#

The MBTA dashboard runs as a 24/7 kiosk display on a Raspberry Pi 3B+ using Anthias (formerly Screenly OSE) in Docker. The display is portrait 1080x1920. The Pi has severe memory constraints (788MB total) requiring aggressive optimization.

Anthias Deployment#

Hardware#

Device: Raspberry Pi 3B+ (788MB RAM)
Display: 1080x1920 portrait screen
Software: Anthias (Docker-based digital signage)

Display Configuration#

Dashboard page set as primary asset
Splash page appears for 1 minute every 11 hours 59 minutes as a refresh cycle
Page refreshes via cron job to prevent memory leaks

Cron Refresh#

# Refresh the kiosk page periodically to clear memory
0 */6 * * * docker restart screenly-anthias-viewer-1

Qt WebEngine Quirks#

Anthias uses Qt WebEngine for rendering, which differs from desktop Chrome:

Kiosk on homelab

MBTA Dashboard - Frontend Implementation

MBTA Dashboard - Frontend Implementation#

What Was Established#

Design Evolution#

Layout (1080x1920 Portrait)#

Key Features#

CSS Ticker/Marquee#

Station-Based Grouping#

Server-Side Proxy Architecture#

News Ticker#

Static Map#

Performance & Optimization#

Memory Constraints (Raspberry Pi 3B+)#

Font Standardization#

Current Configuration#

Historical Notes#

Related Pages#

Sources#

MBTA Dashboard - Kiosk Mode

MBTA Dashboard - Kiosk Mode#

What Was Established#

Anthias Deployment#

Hardware#

Display Configuration#

Cron Refresh#

Qt WebEngine Quirks#